Cong lawmakers from Telangana to resign en masse

Hyderabad: The ruling Congress MPs,
legislators and state ministers from Telangana region of
Andhra Pradesh on Friday said they would resign en masse on July 4
in support of their demand for a separate state.

"The people of Telangana are expecting us to quit
our posts for achieving separate statehood. Due to the delay
in the formation of Telangana, there is an impression that we
are not quitting our posts out of lust for power," Andhra
Pradesh Panchayat Raj Minister K Jana Reddy said.
"Now we are in a situation that we have to prove that
we are not hankering for power. Hence we decided to submit our
resignations on July 4," he said after a meeting of the
leaders from the region attended by seven MPs, 18 MLAs, nine
MLCs and nine ministers.

Reddy made it clear that they`ll remain in Congress
and work for achieving Telangana and strengthening the party.

The decision to resign "has been taken keeping
people`s aspirations in mind and it is hoped that the party
leadership would understand our predicament," he said.

The Telangana Congress leaders have been pleading with
the central leadership for the last two years to implement the
announcement made by the Centre on 9 December 2009 to form
separate Telangana, Jana Reddy said.
Congress leaders from Telangana had recently met the
Congress leadership in Delhi and set a June end deadline to
take a positive decision. They had threatened to take harsh
steps if a final decision was not taken within the period.

Congress Rajya Sabha member K Keshavrao claimed that
party leaders from non-Telangana regions were trying to
scuttle the formation of Telangana by meeting top Congress
leaders in the first week of July.

The AP assembly has failed to take cognisance of the
the alleged suicides by "600 persons" in support of separate
Telangana demand, he charged.

There are 294 seats in the AP assembly. Around 50
MLAs, 11 MPs and 16 MLCs of the Congress are from Telangana
region.

The Congress core group, including party president
Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, had met for
the second time on June 18 to find a solution to the Telangana
statehood demand amid threats by party MPs, MLAs and ministers
from the region to quit en masse if a decision on the issue
was not taken soon.

However, no final decision could be taken.

The issue of Telangana has witnessed a sharp division
along regional lines in the Congress in Andhra Pradesh, the
only major state where the party is in power on its own.

Earlier, party leaders from coastal Andhra and
Rayalseema regions had also met Mukherjee apprising him of
their sentiments for a united Andhra Pradesh.

The Justice Srikrishna Committee, which went into the
issue, has recommended six options including creation of a
separate Telangana state with Hyderabad as its capital and
keeping Andhra Pradesh united with constitutional and
statutory measures for empowerment of the Telangana region.